CHAPTER X.

THE DECCAN.

Physical Features-Ancient Splendour of Madura and BeejanuggurWell-being of the People-First Invasion by Alla the SanguinaryArabs-Kingdoms of the Deccan - Mahommedan Kings of Beejapore, Ahmednuggur, Golconda and Baidar league against great Hindoo Kingdom of Beejanuggur-Site of Madras granted to England in 1640 -Mysore-Akbar-Beautiful Queen of Gurrah-Aurungzebe-Rise of Mahrattas-Sivajee-Sack of Surat-Raja of Satara-Nizam-ul-Mulk founder of Hydrabad dynasty-The Peishwas-Tara Bhye-Hyder Ali -First Mysore War-Sir Eyre Coote-Second Mysore War-Tippoo Saib Third Mysore War-Fourth Mysore War-Fall of Seringapatam and Death of Tippoo-Hindoo Dynasty restored-The last of the Peishwas-His odious Administration and Deposition-His adopted son the Nana Sahib, of Bithoor.

THE history of the Deccan, or the south country, is closely interwoven with that of Hindostan, but it has nevertheless a history and fortunes of its own.

Between the 23rd and 25th parallels of latitude the Vendhya range, extending from the north-west of Guzerat to the Ganges, divides the Deccan from Hindostan, although the Mogul Emperors affected to regard the Nerbudda as the boundary of the provinces directly subject to the Imperial Crown.*

The Mogul Emperors fixed the Nerbudda for the limit of their provinces in those two great divisions, but the division of the nations is made by the Vindhya mountains. It is well remarked by Sir W. Jones and Major Rennell that both banks of rivers in Asia are generally inhabited by the same community. The rule applies to Europe and is as true on the Rhine or the Po as of the Ganges or the Nile. Rivers are precise and convenient limits for artificial divisions, but they are no great obstacles to communication; and to form a natural separation between nations, requires the real obstruction of a mountain chain.—Mountstuart Elphin

stone.

The Deccan, is, after passing the broad and deep valleys of the Nerbudda and Taptee, for the most part a lofty table land of triangular form, buttressed on all sides by ranges of hills, called the Ghats or Stairs, that on the west being the highest and best known, having a border of low land intervening between them and the sea, possessing in some portions scenery of singular beauty and variety.

The lofty table land has a general inclination, from west to east, from the Malabar to the Coromandel coast the province of Orissa, its eastern border, and merging on the south-west in the large table-land of Mysore. Its chief rivers, having their rise in the Western Ghats, flow across the peninsula in deep channels, little accessible to the cultivator for the irrigation of his fields.

There are vast tracks of forest, having patches of cultivation, with villages few and far between, but the usual aspect of this elevated region is that of billowy downs, covered with verdure, or that of vast plains of waving cotton and corn, without a tree or a farm house to break the monotony; the people choosing as is usual with the agricultural population, especially in Eastern countries, to live together for mutual protection in villages more or less remote. When the crops are gathered and the grass is withered from the heat of the sun, nothing can be more dreary than the general aspect of the country.

"All the traditions and records of the peninsula recognise, in every part of it, a period when the natives were not Hindus."*

Tamil, the language of the most ancient kingdoms of

Professor Wilson.

the south of the peninsula appears to have preceded the introduction of Sanscrit, and Professor Wilson is of opinion that the civilization of the Deccan preceded our era by many centuries.

Strabo and Arrian on the authority of the companions of Alexander describe the inhabitants of the south as not inferior in refinement to the other nations of India, and the former historian mentions that Pandyon, one of the minor kings of the Deccan, had sent an ambassador to Augustus.

There are five languages spoken in the Deccan which appear to point to a similar number of national divisions.* Centuries before our era the Pandyon dynasty reigned in Madura, where they have continued to reign until comparatively recent times. The Cholas reigned in

Conjeyeram and afterwards in Tanjore.

After many revolutions and changes, of which we know little or nothing, these states in 1300, were merged in the vast Hindoo kingdom of Beejanuggur. Madura and Beejanuggur are represented by travellers as having exceeded Delhi and Canouje in splendour and magnitude, whilst the irrigation works, tanks, highly-cultivated country and general well-being of the people proved the Government to have been an enterprising and enlightened one. It was under Alla the Sanguinary, nephew and murderer of the amiable Feroze that the Deccan was first invaded (1294) by a sovereign of Hindustan. During his predecessor's lifetime Alla had been Governor of those districts of which the boundary is the Nerbudda. The fabulous accounts of the temples

* Mountstuart Elphinstone.

and shrines, of the fair cities, and fruitful plains of the countries of the Deccan, tempted Alla on ascending the throne to advance upon the coveted territory. He took and sacked Dowlatabad, and the Agas of the Moslem conqueror were astonished by the undreamed-of glories of Ellora and Ajunta. Encouraged by success, Alla despatched his General Cafoor with orders to penetrate south as far as the kingdoms of the Carnatic and Mysore.

There were few Mahommedans in the Deccan; but a band of enterprising Arabs had established themselves on the coast of Malabar, and with a fierce and untiring vigour, carried on a joint war for the true faith, and in defence of their trading occupations. Whilst Cafoor was ravaging the smiling regions of the south, sacking Hindoo cities and pillaging Hindoo shrines, Alla invaded Guzerat (A.D. 1300), and destroyed the cities of Anhulwarra and Somnauth, rebuilt after the conquest of Mahmoud by a subsequent Jain sovereignty. From thence he led his armies against Rajpootana and other states.

Alla and his general, Cafoor, having ravaged Guzerat, Rajpootana and the fertile kingdoms of the Carnatic, were now called home by the incursions of the Mogul on Delhi; but from the first invasion of the Deccan under Alla the Sanguinary until 1818, when English arms reduced its princes to submission, the Deccan never again knew a moment's peace. In 1347, fifty-two years after Alla the Sanguinary first conquered Dowlatabad, the great revolt of the Deccan Ameers against Mahomed bin Tuglak occurred, when Zuffier Kahn, a successful soldier, was raised to the throne. He founded the Brahmini dynasty, so called in grateful remembrance of his old master and

benefactor, who was a Brahmin, which reigned at Kalburga from 1347 to 1526.

In 1526 the kingdom was divided under the Adil Shahis of Beejapore, the Nizam Shahis of Ahmednuggur, the Kutub Shahis of Golconda, the Fuad Shahis of Berar and the Barid Shahis of Baidar. After this rebellion the Mahommedan rulers of Delhi never again crossed the Nerbudda until the reign of Akbar. These Mahommedan kingdoms of the Deccan were at the height of their prosperity when the Portuguese first went to India; and in 1565 the kings of Beejapore, Ahmednuggur, Golconda and Baidar combined against the Hindoo kingdom of Beejanuggur. The aged king, Ram Raja, was slain in cold. blood, and his kingdom rent in pieces; and it was from a successor of Ram Raja that the English in 1640 received the grant of the site of Madras. It was then that Mysore became independent. Akbar carried his arms into the Deccan, but was met by heroic opposition from the beautiful Hindoo Queen of Gurrah, Durghetti, who, deserted by her troops and agonised by the loss of her son, preferred death to disgrace, and terminated her own existence.

It was during the wars caused by the endeavours of Akbar's successors to reduce the kingdoms of the Deccan, that the Mahrattas rose to supreme power, both in the Deccan and Hindustan.

The Mahrattas were so called from Maharastra, a land of mountain fastnesses-a Switzerland-on the western margin of the Deccan, a fitting cradle for the future plunderers and conquerors of India.

These mountain rats, as the Great Mogul Aurungzebe contemptuously called them, notwithstanding the want